1st time brew equipment

[hickaseer]

So I just ordered this : Brewing Starter Kit w/Better Bottle

Plus, picked up a 5 gallon brew pot, thermometer, and beer bottles. I'm brewing with Cooper's Dark Ale extract. Anyone have any beginner tips before I start next week? The fermenter will be sitting in my laundry room that is about 66-69 degrees.

Thanks,
H

 

[DirtyDirty]

You're going to want a sanitizer. Starsan is good.

 

[hickaseer]

You're going to want a sanitizer. Starsan is good.

It does come with a cleanser, though. "8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
"

 

[unionrdr]

The temp will be great for the cooper's yeast. I added 3lbs of Munton's plain amber DME,& 1oz each of Fuggle & Kent Golding hops to the last 20 minutes of the boil. My dark ale was,before racking onto oaked bourbon,kinda like a dark cream ale with this beautiful ruby glow when the light shown through it. The Fuggle & Kent Golding gave a nice herbal spiciness that was also a bit earthy.
I usually do a 2.5-3 gallon boil. The cooper's cans,OS series anyway,have only some bittering. Get the water boiling,add 1.5lbs of the plain amber DME,& stir all the clumps till completely dissolved. Then do flavor/aroma hop additions.
At flame out,add remaining DME & the cooper's can,rinsing out can with hot water to get all the goodness. Stir into wort till no more clumps of DME. Then till no more LME can be scraped off the bottom of the BK.
You'll get lighter colors & cleaner flavors this way. Then put the BK in the sink,fill empty spaces with ice,then top up that space with cold water. I use a floating thermometer in the cooling wort to keep an eye on the temps. Get it down to between 65-70F. Then put a fine mesh strainer over the fermenter opening & pour the chilled wort through the strainer. It'll strain out some grainy stuff,& help aerate the wort pretty well. Dito with the top off water. Cooper's cans are intended for 6 gallons,or 23L. Anyway,after it's topped off stir like a psycho for 5 minutes straight. Then hydrometer test & pitch yeast,seal up & walk away. Hope this dissertation helps...

 

[DirtyDirty]

It does come with a cleanser, though. "8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
"

I saw that. But, cleanser and sanitizer are two different things. You're going to want/need a sanitizer.

 

[hickaseer]

I saw that. But, cleanser and sanitizer are two different things. You're going to want/need a sanitizer.

Can I just use bleach?

 

[hickaseer]

The temp will be great for the cooper's yeast. I added 3lbs of Munton's plain amber DME,& 1oz each of Fuggle & Kent Golding hops to the last 20 minutes of the boil. My dark ale was,before racking onto oaked bourbon,kinda like a dark cream ale with this beautiful ruby glow when the light shown through it. The Fuggle & Kent Golding gave a nice herbal spiciness that was also a bit earthy.
I usually do a 2.5-3 gallon boil. The cooper's cans,OS series anyway,have only some bittering. Get the water boiling,add 1.5lbs of the plain amber DME,& stir all the clumps till completely dissolved. Then do flavor/aroma hop additions.
At flame out,add remaining DME & the cooper's can,rinsing out can with hot water to get all the goodness. Stir into wort till no more clumps of DME. Then till no more LME can be scraped off the bottom of the BK.
You'll get lighter colors & cleaner flavors this way. Then put the BK in the sink,fill empty spaces with ice,then top up that space with cold water. I use a floating thermometer in the cooling wort to keep an eye on the temps. Get it down to between 65-70F. Then put a fine mesh strainer over the fermenter opening & pour the chilled wort through the strainer. It'll strain out some grainy stuff,& help aerate the wort pretty well. Dito with the top off water. Cooper's cans are intended for 6 gallons,or 23L. Anyway,after it's topped off stir like a psycho for 5 minutes straight. Then hydrometer test & pitch yeast,seal up & walk away. Hope this dissertation helps...

Thanks for the info!

 

[DirtyDirty]

Can I just use bleach?

You can, just make sure that you rinse it off extremely well. But, rinsing it off could also defeat the purpose of using it. Starsan is a no-rinse sanitizer, that's why I recommended using it.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup. PBW & starsan is all I'll ever use to clean/sanitize with. Great stuff & easy to use.

 

[mcaple1]

you will need to thoroughly rinse the bleach...starsan is a contact sanitizer that is no-rinse...in fact it breaks down into yeast nutrient. trust me...its worth the money.

 

[hickaseer]

Yup. PBW & starsan is all I'll ever use to clean/sanitize with. Great stuff & easy to use.

Starsan is on its way from just down the street (Northern Brewer)

 

[hickaseer]

Oh yeah...everything just arrived today. Can't wait to get off work and get to work

 

[hickaseer]

Also - with the above equipment, I also have a can of Cooper's Dark Ale. What other ingredients do I need to get (sugar, etc)?

 

[hickaseer]

The temp will be great for the cooper's yeast. I added 3lbs of Munton's plain amber DME,& 1oz each of Fuggle & Kent Golding hops to the last 20 minutes of the boil. My dark ale was,before racking onto oaked bourbon,kinda like a dark cream ale with this beautiful ruby glow when the light shown through it. The Fuggle & Kent Golding gave a nice herbal spiciness that was also a bit earthy.
I usually do a 2.5-3 gallon boil. The cooper's cans,OS series anyway,have only some bittering. Get the water boiling,add 1.5lbs of the plain amber DME,& stir all the clumps till completely dissolved. Then do flavor/aroma hop additions.
At flame out,add remaining DME & the cooper's can,rinsing out can with hot water to get all the goodness. Stir into wort till no more clumps of DME. Then till no more LME can be scraped off the bottom of the BK.
You'll get lighter colors & cleaner flavors this way. Then put the BK in the sink,fill empty spaces with ice,then top up that space with cold water. I use a floating thermometer in the cooling wort to keep an eye on the temps. Get it down to between 65-70F. Then put a fine mesh strainer over the fermenter opening & pour the chilled wort through the strainer. It'll strain out some grainy stuff,& help aerate the wort pretty well. Dito with the top off water. Cooper's cans are intended for 6 gallons,or 23L. Anyway,after it's topped off stir like a psycho for 5 minutes straight. Then hydrometer test & pitch yeast,seal up & walk away. Hope this dissertation helps...

So I only have the Cooper's can, what other ingredients do I need to get?